Say the Word
by Peachuzoid
Summary: Series of one-shots and drabbles based on one word prompts, etc. Characters will be listed in the titles and change with the chapters.
1. Beth, Judith, Carol

**I'm starting this to hopefully get back into writing more frequently and I guess to experiment with different characters and their interactions. I am willing to accept prompts, one word or otherwise. As for now, this is what I've come up with.**

* * *

Restless

It was starting to get late. The others were outside trying to maintain the walkers that were piling up while Beth stayed inside with Judith. But Judith just kept crying—_screaming_ at the top of her lungs. Beth did everything she'd usually do to soothe her. She sang, rocking her back and forth. She bounced her against her shoulder. And it was starting to wear on her. A frown tugging at her own lips with the cries reverberating through the empty cell block.

"What's the matter?"

Beth turned to see Carol just coming in, her ponytail swinging through the air at her abrupt turn on her heels. Wondering how terrible it must have looked to walk in on such a pathetic sight. It was like she had one job, taking care of Judith, and she couldn't even do that right.

"I don't know," Beth admitted. "She just won't stop cryin'. I've tried _everything_."

Carol's lips pursed. She closed the gap between them, arms outstretched to take Judith from her. And Beth reluctantly handed the frazzled infant over to the more mature woman.

"There, there…" Carol held Judith to her chest as she continued to wail. She slightly bounced her herself before cradling her in her arms. Nudged one of her own fingers into Judith's slobbery mouth and nodded.

"Just as I suspected." Carol smiled. "She's teething."

"That's it?" Beth stared, her blue eyes flickering from Judith to Carol. A faint smirk overcame her. "I thought that maybe she suddenly hated me or something."

"Oh, no. She's just grumpy over a few teeth." Carol paused for a moment, her smile faltering. "Sophia was just the same. Wasn't happy unless I physically allowed her to chew on my fingers. She didn't want anything to do with a washcloth or an actual teething toy."

Beth smiled a sad smile. "I guess that's a good thing. Considerin' we don't have anything to really give her."

"Probably easier too." Carol handed a more settled Judith back over to Beth, the young woman's face lighting up. She watched as Beth reciprocated her very actions and they shared in a smile.


	2. Maggie, Daryl

**This one is for the lovely WTFdoUwantNOW. I know you love Daryl and Maggie, so I tried my best to uh... incorporate them. In this not-so-happy little piece. This was the first thing that popped into my head once I finally sat down to type it out. (Sorry!)**

* * *

Discouraged

Her ears were ringing, the smell of blood pungent in the air. Death and decay. Gunfire echoed through the yard and the remnants of the prison. But it was all slowly dying off.

Maggie hadn't quite realized that the gunfire wasn't the only thing dying.

Screams of agony tore through the throats of survivors just as frequent as walkers ripped through their flesh. It was all she could register, coming to. She had run for cover after seeing the tank fire off another round, blowing another one of the watch towers to bits as if it were nothing.

Maggie found herself trapped between bricks and rubble, one of the vacant cars they kept on the lot. She must have hit her head in the tumble because now the walkers were on top of her, their snarling teeth gnashing at the fallen metal link fence that provided the only barrier, fingers pawing uselessly. And with their weight bared down on her, she couldn't move.

She wasn't even sure if she was willing to fight anymore. Grunting, pushing and shoving with all her might as carefully as she could. There was no escape. There was no way for the dead to reach her. She was just _trapped_.

It was human instinct to survive.

But she had watched the Governor kill her father. Watched as he used Michonne's blade. She tried not to register any of it, though her finger didn't hesitate to pull the trigger with Beth by her side.

She had seen the fight leave Rick out in that field, the Governor overpowering him just before they were both overtaken by walkers. Bob had been shot. Sasha too, shortly after.

Maggie let out a scream in partial frustration. The other half was sorrow. They had all worked so _hard_ to make this prison their home. Just to have it be pulled out from under them. Though, she supposed it didn't matter if everyone was dead.

Some of the pent up frustration left through her knife. She was able to pull it free from off her belt and ram it through the chain links into the already half-rotted skulls, the familiar squelch of blackened blood oozing freely.

Then she recognized one of them. Felt her heart stop as the blade slipped from her fingers.

"_Glenn_," her voice cracked as she placed her palm against the fence. His head came down towards her hand, dark hair hanging in his face as he tried to bite through. She brought her hand to her chest and curled up against the wrecked car at her back. He was bleeding from the neck. One well-aimed bullet piercing through arteries and his airway.

He was just gone. Just like her daddy. Just like Rick. Just like Bob and Sasha. And for all she knew, she was the only one still alive.

Maggie shut her eyes until the guttural sounds coming from Glenn had seized from above her. The other walkers were dead too. Unusually quiet, all of a sudden.

Daryl was standing over Glenn's body. He slowly pulled his knife out from the base of Glenn's skull, his hands and face bloodied right along with his clothes.

And Daryl started tossing the dead walkers to the side, taking care of any that lingered while he worked. He was careful about how he moved Glenn's body. Held him like he was still breathing, like he was only injured and out cold. Placed him back on the ground face up so that the wound that ultimately killed him was hidden from view.

The piece of fence had been removed. Maggie didn't bother moving. Her eyes were fixed on Glenn's lifeless body. The bloody mess of the prison.

And Daryl didn't say anything. He didn't offer her a hand up. Didn't tell her to get moving. He just let her stay there while he kept killing walkers that kept approaching.

She unconsciously turned her attention to him after a while. Watched as he gripped a walker by the hair and jammed his blade into its eye socket. Watched as he pulled his crossbow from his back and swung it at another walker coming from a different direction.

She could see the exhaustion in his stature. The way each blow seemed to soften as time carried on. As if he too was questioning, what's the point?

Maggie finally pulled herself together once Daryl's knees hit the ground. She quickly dispatched a walker coming up from behind him, so much anger within her that the knife embedded itself so deep into its skull that it wasn't coming back out. The dark goop consumed her hand before she forcefully shoved the body to the ground.

Daryl's shoulders shook and Maggie caught him trying to wipe a clean portion of his arm across his face. The death toll was already too high. Instead of asking, it was easier to just assume. Beth, Carl, Judith, Michonne, Tyreese… They were all likely dead.

But she had to ask anyway.

"Beth? Did you see Beth?" Maggie spoke to Daryl's back. "Anyone?"

Daryl shook his head. "They're all dead." His voice was more gravelly than usual. "She ran to get the kids… Was shot carrying Judith."

Maggie blinked away the tears starting to form. "And your arm?"

She hadn't noticed it right away, the swollen wound gushing fresh blood on his left forearm.

"Bit," was the only word that escaped from his mouth. No explanation. No reasoning. No attempt at trying to severe the limb or cut off blood flow.

Suicide.

"Same as you."

That's when Maggie noticed she had an angry, seeping wound herself. Perched upon her shoulder. She didn't remember being bit. But the emotions she was currently experiencing perhaps made her blind to it.

Maggie got down on her knees next to Daryl and sat on her legs. She reached out for his hand, laced her fingers with his. And he didn't pull away. Didn't look over at her.

Didn't say a word.


End file.
